It's been almost 4 years since my last purchase, and I'm surprised that I've contained my urge to upgrade for so long. But now that I have enough funds and resources to put together another system, I would very much appreciate your help on putting together a system for classical music only.

My room is about 12' by 14' carpeted and I have about $3000/new to play with.

I've already been auditioning a whole bunch of gears and I'm set on Consonance CD120 Linear to start with.

Now the most difficult part, the speakers. I'm so open minded that basically all of the speakers I've auditioned so far, although vastly different, sounded good to me. I'm looking for a near-full range experience with emotional involvement.

For classical music, you're going to need dynamic speakers. There are a lot of choices. One such option consists of PSB Stratus Gold or Silver speakers, with a strong integrated such as a Plinius 8200 or Musical Fidelity A308cr.

I would also look at Vandersteen as they are a great performer at real world price......Vandersteen speakers are for those who know what they want and just wish to enjoy music and not stay on the purchase treadmill.

lol. Surely you must go through the post here on the Gon entitled "best speakers you ever heard!" (lol). Perhaps your pair is in that post!?Otherwise, you're gunna have to try something, and compare!! Remember, EVERYONE ends up with different gear! Thus, it's all personal preference. good luck

I would be interested in what people recommend for a new system in the $5-6 range...just power, speakers and cd. I have been looking at the Rega for the cd (1k) and am interestd in maybe a tube integrated for like 2k then figure 3k for speakers...I have heard the Gallos and liked them. All my stuff is vintage (almost as old as me) works fine but I figure I can do better via modern...existing is Mcintosh MA5100, SAE 2900,2200 and Ohm C2s. Suggestions? BTw eclectic tastes, older jazz (Miles, Pass, Trane), female vocals (Krall, Allyson, Ronstadt) acoustic guitar (Hawaiian and fingerstyule), singer songwriter, Eagles type stff.

Joekapahulu"I have heard the Gallos and liked them. "Try out the new Zu Druids....Go look at the 6moons audio review site, and many others, there are pretty much good comparisons and contrast to the Zu vs. Gallos and many others in your price range, plus with the exact music you mention will be excellent, also only take very small power amps with full range results. Good Luck

Don't know the cost of the Consonance CDP but, of what I see on 'Gon today, for about $2000 I'd consider the used Meadowlark Shearwaters powered by a Consonance/Opera M-100SE Plus EL34-based integrated. I owned the original Meadowlark Blue Herons and should never have sold them. Also owned the Consonance Ella kit integrated, a high quality unit. The M-100 seems very similar and is auto-bias, eliminating the biasing hassle altogether. Both the speakers and amp will match well in your room and should make beautiful music together. For a bit more money there is a Lector CDP-7T MKIII player for sale. Yes, it'll likely sell somewhere around $2.5k-$2.9k. I own the Lector CD transport and it betters more expensive units from Ensemble and Burmester in my system - and not by a small stretch. Just my 2 cents...

Another integrated amp/loudspeaker option, if solid state is preferable and you'd not want Meadowlarks as the company is defunct, is the Blue Circle NSCS integrated amp with the Salk Signature Sound "Songtower QWT" loudspeakers. I owned a custom lower power version of the NSCS and was very impressed - engaging and without a "ss" sound at all. I've not heard the "Songtower QWT"s, but a Dennis Murphy design with Salk quality cabinets starting at $1695 a pair is well worth considering. The 40W/Ch of the tubed Consonance M-100SE Plus will work in a modest room at reasonable volumes, but the BC amp will fit better depending on musical taste/preferred listening volume.

if you are happy with all of them then it begs the question... do i really HAVE a preference or sound i am shooting for?.. 'bout all one could recommend is not getting large cabineted boxes that require significant distance from rear wall placement unless you want to use the old headphone positioning system. as you note, whatever you wind up with will sound good anyway.